Friday, 27 February 2015

It was clearly a much tougher quiz last week with a top submitted score of 15 by Adam Batstone. Others reaching double figures were Alex Murphy with 14, Charlie Taverner and Mike Smith with 12, Lydia Willgress 11 and Chris Lennon and Damon Wake 10. Our old friend @subedited, who scored a lowly 7, asked if there could be a fashion alternative to the sports questions. The answer is No. Here is this week’s quiz - as usual there are 25 points. Let me know how you get on.

The i's front page on cash-for-access (Q1)

1. MP Sir Malcolm Rifkind, embroiled in a cash-for-access scandal, said he could not survive on an MP’s salary. What is an MP’s salary? Bonus: Rifkind announced he is to quit as an MP after 40 years. What is his constituency?

2. Lady Gaga sang songs from which musical at the Oscars? Bonus: Julianne Moore won the Oscar for Best Actress for which film?

3. Which cricket team won their first ever World Cup game by beating Scotland?

4. Eddie Raye Routh was found guilty of murdering two men. One was Chad Littlefield, who was the other?

5. Ed Balls was described as a 'sexy beast' on which website?

6. Three Al-Jazeera journalists were arrested for doing what in Paris?

7. Why was Joshua Leakey in the headlines?

8. Which of these did not win an award at the Brits - Pharrel Williams, Taylor Swift, Sam Smith, the Foo Fighters, George Ezra, Paloma Faith, One Direction? Bonus: Which designer did Madonna ‘blame’ for her wardrobe malfunction? Bonus: Who led the protest against Kanye West’s use of the N-word by saying: 'I don’t think it is OK for a black man to use the N-word ... I don’t think it should be said and become normal.'

9. Five English football teams took part in European competitions this week. Four lost and one won. Who won?

10. A video of a couple having sex on the centre spot of which football ground got more than a million hits on social media?

11. How is Mohammed Emwazi more commonly known?

12. According to the coroner Sheriff Payne, aircrew and frequent fliers are at risk from what?

13. During which two months has it been proposed that the 2022 World Cup games will be played?

14. Which company paid out £421million in bonuses in 2014 despite a loss of £3.5 billion? Bonus: Which company confirmed it will resume paying dividends to shareholders for the first time since 2008?

15. Islamic State extremists used sledgehammers and power drills to smash ancient artwork at a museum in which city?

16. Ed Miliband is considering plans to reduce the maximum level of university tuition fees in England from £9,000 to how much?

17. According to the Department of Transport 500,000 drivers do what illegally every day?

18. A Cambridge University study showed that doing what could double the risk of having a stroke?

19. Who issued a statement saying: 'I have never, in my life, assaulted anyone and I remain confident the truth will prevail’?

20. The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee recommended replacing what with a levy?

Tuesday, 17 February 2015

You may think this looks like a couple of desperate vagrants on the streets of London. But in fact it is two of Britain's best and most respected newspaper editors. On the left is Ted Young, editor of Metro, and on the right is Peter Barron, MBE, who has been editor of The Northern Echo for an astonishing 16 years. They were at the Emirates on Sunday to see Middlesbrough lose to Arsenal in the FA Cup. To add to the confusion Peter, a Teessider, is an Arsenal supporter and Southerner Ted follows Newcastle. Ted says the best bit was watchingPeter being branded a southern softie by Boro fans queuing at Arsenal tube station. Peter says it was a momentous occasion: "Ted bought a round! Never seen that many moths." We were all on the Echo together 25 years ago. Nice to know their humour and their dress sense have stayed the same.

There were lots of good scores in last week's newsquiz ... the best being a huge 19 out of 25 by Michael Owens. Damon Wake was spurred on by the foreign questions to get an impressive 17, the same score as Ailsa Leslie. Lydia Willgress and the South West News newsroom in Plymouth clocked up 15.5 as a team effort. Some non-journalists also got into double figures, including Michael Bryan with 11 and Carole Naseby with 10. Well done to them. Here are this week's questions ... as usual there are 25 points up for grabs. Let me know how you get on.

Dumper truck tragedy as reported by the Mirror(See Question 2)

1. Harriet Harman defended the colour of Labour’s pink bus. What three words are on the arrows on the sides of the bus?Bonus: Harman also defended herself against a claim that she had told Councillor Karen Danczuk she was 'far too pretty for politics' and should be in ______ _____. What are the blanks?

2. In which city did a runaway dumper truck kill four people?

3. Who won the Bafta for lead actress? Bonus: The BBC received complaints over Bafta host Stephen Fry’s language, including giving one of the stars the middle name ‘F***ing’? Which star? Bonus: At the Grammy Awards in America Kanye West interrupted whose acceptance speech for the Album of the Year?4. Which non-European country has been invited to take part in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest?5. What was the name of the 26-year-old American hostage murdered by ISIS?6. One Premier League manager was reportedly sacked and then reinstated this week - and one was just sacked. Name them both. Half point for each.7. What do MP Zac Goldsmith, German-born automotive heir Georg von Opel, Lord Sterling of Plaistow and Lord Fink have in common?

8. Why did Sir Michael Gambon say he was retiring from the stage?

9. Devinder Kainth has been charged with murder in the Costa Del Sol after allegedly catching his victim doing what?

10. The Premier League has sold television rights to its games for a record amount. How much?

11. Where have retired couple Alan Lane and Kristina Smith been living for four months?

12. Ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a court in France that he only attended how many sex parties in three years?

13. Why was Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in the headlines?

14. The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany gathered in which city to negotiate a peace agreement for Ukraine? Bonus: The ceasefire that was agreed at the meeting comes into force when?

Sands Media Services Ltd

Sands Media Services is a training and design consultancy run by Peter and Pam Sands. Peter is also consultant editor at Press Association Training. He is a former editor of The Northern Echo, non-executive director of Northcliffe Media and from 2006-2011 was chairman of the judges in the Regional Press Awards. He has redesigned 90 newspapers and magazines and is in demand as a trainer, speaker and editorial consultant. Pam is a former director of the Editorial Centre and Press Association Training. Our partners include Press Association Training, ffresh, the visual communications company run by Mike Brough, Alan Geere, Brian Page and other senior journalists and designers.
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